1987 Disappearance Near Ice Caves Remains Unsolved
Joseph David Helt, age 17, disappeared on January 16, 1987 and has never been found. Joe, who was an Ellenville High School student, was out late partying with friends the night he went missing near a popular party spot, the remnants of the old Mount Cathalia Lodge, just outside of Ellenville in the hamlet of Cragsmoor. After spending some time at Mount Cathalia, Joe left with three acquaintances, Kelly Diaz, John LaForge and Wade Marks to take a joyride in LaForge's Subaru. According to the accounts given by these three acquaintances, LaForge's Subaru got stuck in a ditch near Sam's Point Ice Caves and they were unable to get the car out. They stated that Joe left to walk 5 miles back down the mountain to Ellenville, and shortly after this Kelly Diaz and Wade Marks left to do the same. A short time later John LaForge gave up and walked to his home in Cragsmoor. LaForge, Diaz and Marks made it safely, but Joe was never seen again. Laforge and his companions said that night that they had expected to come across Joe on their way down the mountain, but they didn't think much of it when they didn't because he had a head start. They claim that it wasn't until LaForge retrieved his car from the mountain the next afternoon that they found out that Joe never made it down the mountain. A huge snow storm moved in the next day, hampering search attempts. The search was called off after 6 days as it was believed that Joe could not have survived the storm. In spite of renewed interest in Joe's case in late 2010, no trace of Joe has ever been found. An effort to bring awareness to Joe's case has been established on Facebook.
Read more about this topic: Sam's Point Preserve
Famous quotes containing the words ice, caves, remains and/or unsolved:
“Will lovely, lively, virginal today
Shatter for us with a wing’s drunken blow
This hard, forgotten lake haunted in snow
By the sheer ice of flocks not flown away!”
—Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898)
“Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!’
Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their marble caves ‘Repent! Repent!’”
—William Drummond, of Hawthornden (1585–1649)
“A family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family—and, often, is all that remains of it.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The child knows only that he engages in play because it is enjoyable. He isn’t aware of his need to play—a need which has its source in the pressure of unsolved problems. Nor does he know that his pleasure in playing comes from a deep sense of well-being that is the direct result of feeling in control of things, in contrast to the rest of his life, which is managed by his parents or other adults.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)